Facts: Fuentes bought some stuff on credit from Firestone
and also had a service contract with them.There was a dispute over the service contract.Firestone went to small-claims court to
repossess the stuff and got a writ of replevin before Fuentes was even notified
of the proceeding.It turned out that in
Florida, the procedure to get a writ of replevin was very
minimal.The sheriff went and took the
stuff.Fuentes sued, saying that her
Fourteenth Amendment right to due process had been violated.

Issue: Does procedural due process require the chance for a
hearing before the state takes someone’s stuff?

Rule: The state can only take stuff without a hearing when:

1.The
seizure is directly necessary to protect an important public interest.

2.There
is a special need for prompt action.

3.The
state keeps strict control of the seizure process by having a government
official make sure the seizure is necessary and justified.

Analysis: The court finds that the Florida statute under which Fuentes’s stuff was taken fails
on all three counts.First, the statute
doesn’t serve an important public interest, but only the private interest in
protecting private profits.Second, the
statute is drawn too broadly and not limited to situations requiring prompt
action.Finally, the statute lets
private parties use state power to take other people’s stuff without the
participation of a state official in the evaluation of the immediate need to do
so. This statute is NO GOOD!